Presently, aircraft windows are provided in modular form for retrofitting into existing jet aircraft or finishing out newly manufactured aircraft. Because of the unique demands of the aircraft's operating environment, the aircraft windows must be lightweight, compact, modular, easy to assemble, durable and have few parts.
Typically, present aircraft windows either are electrical powered off the aircraft's electrical system, or are manually operated by the passenger. The shades are raised between an upper and a lower position. Many of the aircraft are presently fitted with shades located between an outer and an inner pane such that the aircraft passenger does not have access to direct contact with the shade itself and raising and lowering the shade must be affected through either a control switch engaging and disengaging the electric motor or, in the case of a manually operated window, a lever which is manually positioned by the passenger and operates through an engagement means to engage the window shade for positioning between an upper and lower (open or closed) position.
Turning now to this latter type of aircraft window, that is, one with the shade located between a pair of lenses, there is a demand for such aircraft windows where the vertical axis of the window is greater than the horizontal axis of the window. Thus, shade raising between the upper and lower position in the vertical plane is required to have a mechanical advantage in the actuation means when the manual external control lever slides horizontally.
Assignee to the present invention is also assignee of U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,043 (Moreno 1992) which addresses just such a problem. The specification and drawings of the '043 patent are incorporated herein by reference. This patent addresses the need for the actuation means to have a mechanical advantage in the vertical or the "narrow" windows. With the wide windows, wherein the horizontal axis is equal to or greater than the vertical axis, the throw of the manual control lever can be linear with respect to the distance the shade moves. That is, there may be a direct actuation--one-to-one--without the need for a mechanical advantage.
Applicant addresses, in the various embodiments of the aircraft window illustrated, described and claimed herein two problems heretofore unsuccessfully or not addressed by others in the market. First, Applicant provides a means for engaging an electric motor through a unique pulley system, to a shade to smoothly raise and lower the shade in a window that is light, compact, modular, has few parts and is easy to assemble. Second, Applicant provides a modular window with all of the aforementioned qualities which has a manual override wherein a passenger is capable, in the event of motor failure, of moving the shade with a manual lever, through an actuation means which provides a mechanical advantage allowing the shade rail to be moved a distance greater than that of the manual lever.
This latter problem, that is, the use of a handle or manual lever overdrive in a narrow window, has not heretofore been successfully addressed in the prior art. Applicants' novel solution to this problem, typically but not necessarily in conjunction with an electrical motor having either a duplex pulley or an axially slideably spool, provides for a unique combination of elements heretofore unavailable in a modular, lightweight aircraft window.
Thus, it is an object of Applicants' present invention to provide for an aircraft window driven through an electric motor connected to the aircraft power system and controlled by a passenger/operator control switch, which control electric motor engages the shade to move the shade of the aircraft window between an open and closed position through utilizing either a duplex pulley or a longitudinally sliding spool and a single drive cord operating through a series of fixed pulleys and tied into a moveable shade rail.
It is further object of Applicants' present invention to provide a motor for moving a shade between an open and close position, the motor operating a spool that is movable axially either positively or under the impetus of the cord itself as the cord is wound and unwound from the spool, thus preventing the cord from bunching up in any one spot.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel electrically driven motor capable of smoothly and efficiently raising and lowering a shade of an aircraft window.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for an electrically operated aircraft window having an electric motor with a manual override in case of a power failure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for an electrically powered aircraft window with a manual lever operating the shade through an actuator system producing a mechanical advantage which in turn acts as a manual override to an electric motor which normally operates the window shade through a passenger operated switch.